Role-playing

Role-playing is a vital component of learning any new skill.

Where to begin
Role-playing is what makes any skill stick. Role-playing allows you and your child to practice scenarious over and over again until they have mastered the skill and how they would respond. Role-playing allows a parent to teach their child how they should act and what is expected of them. Children that Role-play or practice frequently are more able to better handle situations, including ones they have never encountered before, and deal with those situations in the best way.
Here is what to do when Role-playing
1. Watch the Role-playing video and become familiar with the elements of Role-playing.
2. Print out the Steps of Role-playing and place it somewhere for easy reference.
3. Visit the Fun Activities section section and choose a game or activity that you think will be successful with your children as you implement the skill.
4. During a neutral time, introduce your children to Role-playing and discuss

Where to begin

Role-playing is what makes any skill stick. Role-playing allows you and your child to practice scenarious over and over again until they have mastered the skill and how they would respond. Role-playing allows a parent to teach their child how they should act and what is expected of them. Children that Role-play or practice frequently are more able to better handle situations, including ones they have never encountered before, and deal with those situations in the best way.

Here is what to do when Role-playing

1. Watch the Role-playing video and become familiar with the elements of Role-playing.

6. Many children, especially teens, don’t feel comfortable Role-playing, so keep it fun and offer them Effective Praise for any effort.

7. Offer a small reward once a child has finished Role-playing. Often offering a small reward for Role-playing will encourage children to practice in the future as they feel they are getting something out of it. A reward does not need to be offered every time a child Role-plays, but rewards are especially helpful in the beginning.

Suggestions for parents

Remain calm and know your limits. If you or your child is getting frustrated, it’s ok to take a break and come back when you have both calmed down. Role-playing when upset or angry will just make both you and your child hate Role-playing.

Your child will be almost as silly as you are. The more silly you make Role-playing the more it will put your child at ease and the more they will like Role-playing.

As you use Role-playings dialogues and they become a part of everyday life, you’ll notice your children will begin Role-playing situations without your prompting.

Research articles about Role-Playing

Research has shown that Role-playing is vital in helping prepare children for the future and situations they may encounter. Studies have shown that practice (Role-playing) is the best way to learn a new skill or behavior.

Read more about the study that was in our Role-playing lesson video. This study looked at the long-term effect of learning and practice in ballet dancers and found that the age-old practice that practice makes perfect was true.

Smarter Parenting blog posts

The following Role-playing games and activities can make it fun for your family.

Charades

Charades is a great game to introduce children to Role-playing as it allows them to practice being silly and doing things they aren’t in their comfort zone.

Charades involves acting out words or phrases without using any verbal clues in a given amount of time—usually 30 seconds or a minute depending on the age of the participants and how you plan to award points.

How to accrue points can be done in one of two ways.

Option 1: A point is given for any right answer that is guessed during the set time frame.

To play

3. Divide the questions in half and place in two bowls—one for each team.

4. Each team takes turn having one player act out the clues while the rest of the team tries to guess.

5. The player who is acting out is not able to speak, though rules to whether they can make other sounds vary so be sure to set the rules before you starts.

6. Game ends when all the cards have been used.

Reverse Charades

This point of Role-playing is to get children to be comfortable doing things that are asked of them. In Reverse Charades, children have to act out the command from their cards, trying to get as many cards as possible in a set amount of time frame. This game differs from Charades in the fact that they are able to use sounds, movement, etc.